Loose leaf binder



Oct. 23, 1934. E. T. LUNDEEN ET AL LOOSE LEAF BINDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 30 1952 n m M,

Patented Oct. 23, 1934 I UNITED STATES LOOSE LEAF BINDER Eugene T. Lundeen," Benton Harbor, Mich., and George Audrey, Niagara Falls, N. Y., assignors to Remington Rand Inc., Bufialo, N; Y.

Application September 30, 1932, Serial naesasaz 12 Claims.

This invention relates to loose leaf binders, and it has particular reference to the provision of means for locking in place certain of the elements entering into the binder structure. It has heretofore been proposed to provide a binder in which the cover, binding posts, and leaves were secured together by means of coupling members swingably mounted on one portion of the binder and adapted to engage the other portion thereof,

to maintain the assembled parts in their normal position. Such binders have been found useful and satisfactory for most purposes, but have been open'to the'objection that the binder will sometimes fall apart because of the disengagement of the couplingmembers, and particularly when the leaf stack wasof limited size, or when the coupling member was not sufiiciently tight. According to the present invention, provision is made for retaining the coupling member in an assembled position, and this irrespective of the adjustment of the coupling pin or the number of leaves in the binder, so that a positive assembly may be had at all times. A typical embodiment of the invention showing the application of its principle in "one form of binder is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the binder in. open position with the coupling members detached and swung to one side.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through one of the coupling members. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 2. J

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal edge view of the binder showing the coupling pin in engaged position.

' Fig. 5 is a transverse cross-sectional view of the binder with the stack of leaves indicated therein. 1

I Fig. 6 is adetailed view showing the pivotal connection between the binder bar anda coupling p st- Fig. 7 is a detailed plan View showing the detachable connection of the binder bar with coupling. 7

Asshown in Fig. 1 the binder bar includes top and bottom cover members 10 and 11, respectively, provided with hinged marginal portions 12 and 13 adapted to overlap each other to form a two-part back for the binder. A rigid angle .50 member is provided with a 'fiange 14 secured to the inner face of the marginal portion 12 and a flange 15which projects outwardly at rightangles to the marginalportion 12 so as to overlie the binding edge of the leaf stack n Parallel relation. A binder bar 16 is riveted or otherwise secured to the under side of the flange 15 and is constructed to detachably retain a post bar 1'7 and coupling members or posts 18.

An angularly formed bottom member is seecured to the inner face of the marginal portion 13 of the bottom cover 11 and it includes the flange 19 aflixed to the cover, andthe flange 21, which projects outwardly therefrom to underlie the leaf stack in like manner to the flanges 14 and 15. A binder bar 22 is secured to the upper side of the flange 21 and is constructed to receive a number of impaling or binder posts 23 and 24 and the coupling posts 18. The posts 23 and 24 are shown as' being permanently secured to the bar 22 and formed of a plurality of threaded sections which may be built up to provide posts of any given length, but it will be understood that if desired the posts may be made completely detachable and that the bar 22 as well may be made removable from the binder bar 21.

One way of making the post bar detachable is shown by the structure of the bar 17, formed on its upper surface with spaced pins 25 adapted to seat in recesses 26 formed in the binder bar 16. With this construction, the post bar 17 may be removed when the binder is opened or disassembled, to permitof removal of the bar and leaves as a unit.

Formed on the under side of the post bar 16 are spaced impaling posts 27 and 28,which are similar in construction to the posts 23 and 24. These posts are intended to pass through the aligned apertures in a stack of leaves, as illustrated in Fig. 5 in order to retain them in the binder. It will be understood, therefore, that when the parts are assembled as indicated in Fig. 4 and when the coupling posts are disengaged that the top cover member may be swung away from the leaf stack and the post bar 17, and thatthe post bar 17 and leaf stack or portion of the stack may then be removed, or other leaves may be inserted at any desired point.

The retention of the leaves, bars and covers in assembled relationship, to form a book, is effected by means of the coupling posts 18 and their associated parts. As shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the coupling posts 18 comprise tubular members 29, which have apertures 31 pivotally engaged by inwardly projecting pintles 32 formed on the slotted or forked end 33 of the lower binder bar 22. The upper ends of the tubular coupling parts 29 are slotted at 34 to form opposed resilient arm portions 35 and 36. These arms are normally disposed side by side and parallel as shown in Fig. 4 and are internally threaded at their upper extremities as indicated at 3'7. Cut-away portions 38 are provided on the arms extending inwardly from the slots 34. Lever arms 39 have inwardly turned cam lugs 41 which are sprung into these cut-away portions as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. A threaded shank 42, having an enlarged head 43, fiuted to provide a finger grip and formed with a reduced shoulder 44, of larger diameter than the shank portion, comprises the upper part of the coupling member 18.

The threads 37 of the arms and 36 will normally engage the threaded shank so that by rotating the fluted head 43 the shank may be turned into or out of the tubular member 29. The extreme outward position is limited as shown in Fig. 2 by the head 45 on the lower end of the shank abutting shoulders 46 formed beneath the threads 37. The shank may be quickly moved longitudinally of the member 29, without rotation, however, by throwing the lever 39 upwardly from the normal position depicted in Fig. 4 and in broken lines in Fig. 2 to the expanded position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. In this latter position the cam lugs 41 will spread apart or flex outwardly the slit portions or arms of the tubular member, releasing the threads 37 from engagement with the shank threads 42.

The upper binder bar 16 is provided with forked or slotted portions at both ends. These slots 50 are of sufiicient diameter to receive the shoulder portions 44 as shown in Fig. '7, and are provided with reduced necks 51, which are too narrow to pass the portions 44 but which are wider than the shank portions 42. When the binder parts are in assembled relationship as illustrated in Fig. 4, the shank shoulders are engaged in the slots 50 and can not be removed except by upward movement of the head 43 sufficient to bring the shank portions 42 in register with the necks 51, at which time the members 18 may be swung outwardly on pintles 32 to the position shown in Fig. 1. The heads 43 may be readily raised, without rotation, upon lifting the levers 39, spreading the arms 35 and 36, and thus freeing the shanks 42 for longitudinal movement relative to tubular members 29.

When papers or loose leaves have been placed in the binder or removed therefrom, the binder may be closed and locked by raising the levers 39, swinging the coupling members to engagement with the upper binder bar slots, pressing down the shanks until the papers in the binder are compressed, and lowering the levers 39. The latter will be releasably retained in lowered position, substantially paralleling the tubular members 29 by the resilience of the arms 35 and 36. It will be seen that the binder backs will be held against accidental displacement by the engagement of the coupling bars with the narrow necked slots of the upper binder bar and that the parts may be quickly separated without the tedious operation of turning out the threaded shanks 42. If it is desired to slightly adjust the tension of the coupling members, this may be done by turning the fluted adjusting head 43.

It will be understood that the specific device described may be modified as to various details, and it is intended that the invention should be commensurate with the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a loose leaf binder, a pair of cover members having binder bars disposed adjacent the inner marginal portions thereof, one of said binder bars having a forked end, a multi-part coupling member swingably mounted on the corresponding end of the other bar and having a headed portion adapted to engage said forked end of said first bar, said coupling member comprising a tubular post having a split end, a shank extending into said tubular member and normally held fixed thereto by engagement of said split end therewith, and means for separating the split portions of said tubular post to release said shank for longitudinal movement.

2. In a loose leaf binder, a pair of cover members having binder bars disposed adjacent the. inner marginal portions thereof, one of said binder bars having an end slot provided with a restricted entrance, the other of said binder bars having a coupling post hinged thereto, said coupling post having a pair of arms at one end thereof, a shank releasably engaged by said arms having a head provided with a shoulder adapted to seat in the slot in said first binder bar, said shank being of less diameter than the restricted entrance of said slot, and means for spreading apart the arms of said coupling post, whereby said shank may be disengaged from said first binder bar when said coupling post is released from said shank.

3. In a loose leaf binder, comprising a pair of cover members having binder bars disposed adjacent the inner marginal portions thereof, one of said binder bars having an end slot provided with a restricted entrance, and the other of said binder bars having a coupling part hinged thereto, a shank releasably engaged by said coupling part and having a head provided with a shoulder adapted to seat in the slot in said first binder bar, said shank being of less diameter than the restricted entrance of said slot, whereby said shank may be disengaged from said first binder bar when said coupling part is released from said shank.

4. A coupling for releasably securing together binder bars, comprising a resilient bifurcated tubular member having internal threads throughout the bifurcated portion, a threaded shank extending into said tubular member and engaging the threads thereof, and a lever having cam lugs pivotally engaging in the bifurcated portions of said member, whereby pivotal movement of said lever will operate said cam lugs to spread the bifurcated end of said tubular member and release said shank from threaded engagement.

5. A coupling for releasably securing together I binder bars, comprising a threaded shank, a member having threaded arm portions resiliently gripping opposite sides of said shank, and means for spreading said arm portions apart to release said shank from threaded engagement with said member.

6. A loose leaf binder comprising a pair of spaced binder bars adapted to lie on opposite sides of a stack of leaves, a multi-part coupling post swingably mounted on the end of one of said bars and adapted to be swung into juxtaposition with the adjacent end of the opposite bar, said coupling post having a shank portion provided with an enlarged head having a reduced shoulder, the adjacent end of the opposite bar having a slot with a reduced neck less than the diameter of said shoulder, said slot being adapted to seat the reduced shoulder on the head of said shank, and means associated with said coupling post whereby the parts thereof may be extended to align said shank with said reduced neck and the shank may be swung through said neck and into engagement with said opposite bar.

7. In a coupling post for loose leaf binders, a

and a lever having cam lugs engaging between said arms, whereby upon movement of said lever said arms will be spread apart.

9. In a loose leaf binder, a pair of cover members, having binder bars disposed adjacent the inner marginal portions thereof, one of said binder bars having a notched end, a tubular mem ber hinged to the adjacent end of the other one of the binder bars, said tubular member having a bifurcated end, a shank threaded into the bifurcated end of the tubular member and having a head adapted for engagement with the notched end of the first-mentioned binder bar, said head being disengageable therefrom upon movement in a direction axial of its shank, and means for spreading the bifurcated end of the tubular member, whereby it is released from threaded engagement with the shank and the latter may be moved out of engagement with the notched end of the first-mentioned binder bar.

10. A coupling for releasably securing together binder bars, comprising a resilient tubular member having the one end thereof bifurcated, the bifurcated end portions having notches, a shank extending into the tubular member and being engaged by said bifurcated end portions, and a lever having lugs engaging in the notches of the bifurcated end portion of the tubular member for spreading said bifurcated portions to release the shank upon movement of the lever.

11. In combination with a pair of binder bars, one of said bars having a notch with a reduced neck, an extensible coupling member pivoted to the end of the other bar adjacent said notch, said coupling member having a medial portion of widthless than that of the reduced neck and an end portion engageable in the notch and of greater width than the reduced neck, said bars being detachable upon extending said extensible coupling member to align the medial portion thereof with the reduced neck.

12. A loose leaf binder comprising a pair of cover members having binder bars disposed adjacent the inner marginal portions thereof, coupling members pivotally mounted on the ends of one binder bar, each coupling member comprising cooperating parts, one part of each coupling member being pivotally secured to one bar to provide said pivotal connection, and the other part being formed for detachable connection with the other bar, means for detachably connecting the parts of each coupling member in adjusted relation for binding a sheet body between said binder bars, and lever actuated releasing means for the last named meansr EUGENE T. LUNDEEN. GEORGE AUDREY. 

